The Ministry of Finance on Thursday notified the Finance Act, 2018 applicable with effect from 1st April 2018.
Earlier in March, the Finance Bill, 2018 has been passed by the Lok Sabha without any discussions by applying the guillotine process. The guillotine process allows for a vote on outstanding demands for grants, whether discussed or not, once the time frame allotted for the discussion is overdue to ongoing political issues. The bill containing tax proposals for the coming financial year was introduced by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 1st February.
One of the significant proposal made in the Finance Bill was to grant indexation benefit in case of unlisted securities. With the passage of the Finance Bill and the Appropriation Bill, the budget exercise is complete in the lower house. Technically, the two Bills also have to go to Rajya Sabha but since they are money bill they would be considered approved if the Upper House of Parliament does not return them within 14 days. The Opposition has an upper hand in the Rajya Sabha.
Another major change proposed in the Finance Bill was to repeal The Public Provident Fund Act, 1968, and include all small savings schemes including PPF under the Government Savings Banks Act, 1873.
The passing of Budget is a constitutional obligation which allows the Government to spend money for its smooth functioning. The Finance Bill containing tax proposals are presented before the Parliament after the proclamation of the budget. It is accompanied by a Memorandum containing explanations of the provisions included in it.
The budget exercise becomes complete after the passage of the Finance Bill and the Appropriation Bill. After passing the same in Lok Sabha, it will be sent to the Rajya Sabha. Since these are money bills are considered approved if the Upper House of Parliament does not return them within 14 days.
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